The conventional route of producing iron in blast furnace from its oxides like Fe2O3 and Fe3O4 follows carbothermic reduction to yield pig iron (molten state) and oxide based slag like FeO, Al2O3, SiO2, MgO, CaO, etc. The primary chemical reaction which produces molten iron can be represented asFe2O3+3CO→2Fe+3CO2 
During the process, preheated air is blown into the furnace which reacts with the carbon present in the form of coke to give rise to carbon monoxide and heat. The carbon monoxide produced reacts with oxide ore of iron to yield molten iron and carbon dioxide. While the original feed or raw materials are charged to reach the reaction zone, the by-product gases like unreacted carbon monoxide, hot carbon dioxide and nitrogen from the air travel upwards through the furnace.
There are numerous environmental woes that are directly related to the blast furnace operation. They are as follows:
1. With every ton of crude steel produced, about 1.9 ton of CO2 is generated.
2. The atmosphere contains approximately 5% of CO2 with steel industry as its major contributor.
3. There are other harmful gases like NOx and SOx which find their presence during blast furnace operation and coke making.
4. Solid wastes like slag affect the environment if they are not taken care of and disposed cost-effectively.
Giles and Clump [H. L. Gilles and C. W. Clump, Ind. Eng. Chem. Process Dev. 1970, 9, 194-207] conducted a detailed analysis of the iron ore reduction in a direct current plasma jet set-up. They arrived at the conclusion that the heat transfer occurred to the oxide particles is a determining factor to study the kinetics of the reduction process involved. Reduction of molten iron oxide and slags carrying FeO was reported by Kamiya et al. [K. Kamiya, N. Kithara, I. Morinaka, K. Sakuraya, M. Ozawa and M. Tanaka, Trans. ISIJ 1984, 24, 7-16.] in 1984 who indicated that the rate of removal of oxygen is very high (0.53 in Fe2O3 and 0.27 in slag containing FeO) in smelting reduction that involved H2—Ar plasma. In order to produce high purity semiconductor grade Fe of more than 99.99% purity, Uchikoshi et al. [M. Uchikoshi, J. Imaizumi, H. Shibuya, T. Kekesi, K. Mimura and M. Isshki, Thin Solid Films 2004, 461, 94-98] conducted a process including hydrogen reduction and plasma arc melting in 2004. There was also a development of pilot scale industrial plant concept based on the laboratory experimental works by H. Hiebler and J. F. Plaul [H. Hiebler and J. F. Plaul, Metallurgija 2004, 43, 155-162] which clearly gives a positive signal towards adoption of hydrogen plasma smelting reduction (HPSR) for steel making with better product quality and flexibility. There are many other researchers like Sjogren et al. [A. Sjogren and V. F. Buchwald, JSTOR: Studies on Conservation 1991, 36, 161-171] (hydrogen plasma reaction in iron meteorites) and Nakamura et al. [Y. Nakamura, M. Ito and H. Ishikawa, Plasma Chem. Plasma. Process. 1981, 1, 149-160.] (reduction and dephosphorization of molten iron oxide with hydrogen-argon plasma) who reported the diverse aspects and advantages of reduction of iron oxide or ore in hydrogen plasma environment. The recent work by Bhoi et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 8,728,195) which also emphasized on the green process for preparation of Direct Reduced Iron (DRI) using hydrogen plasma generated in microwave. However, that route had some immediate drawbacks like difficulty in scaling up the process, low conversion of electric energy to thermal energy that attracted high power consumption costs.
As per the records, the reduction of iron oxide or ore in hydrogen medium was tried in the 1960's but due to its slow reaction kinetics beyond 900° C. the complete reduction consumed a time span of 3 days. As the plasma sources were basically meant for strategic applications those days, none could think about the fast reaction kinetics of hydrogen plasma and its importance in iron oxide reduction. In addition to this, the green house effect was not so intense due to the CO2 emission from steel industries throughout the last quarter of twentieth century. The third reason is unavailability of perfect small and bench top models of plasmatrons and reactors which dwindled the opportunity to scrutinize different possibilities of hydrogen reduction of iron ores and other essential minerals. These are the governing reasons which stand by the fact that till date, the scope of effective utilization of hydrogen plasma in iron and steel sector is still in grooming stage and the innovative concepts are being restricted only to lab scale.